Everi has been on the rise almost since their origin in 2015 and is positioned for the future with a strong history supporting cashless gaming, especially in digital online content delivered from the Spark Remote Gaming Server.
First, some background. It had been almost impossible to break in to the Top Four gaming suppliers since forever. From nearly prehistoric times, the empires of Bally, IGT, WMS, and Aristocrat dominated. But with mergers and acquisitions, Aristocrat and IGT remained, but Scientific Games and Konami arrived. Promising newcomers, such as AGS, Ainsworth, Aruze, and Incredible Technologies, have emerged, while foreign powerhouses like Novomatic are lurking. But none has really threatened the leaders. Now Everi may force the category to change names to the “Big Five” (unless the sporting goods chain has that title trademarked).
In what seemed to be the least likely path to success, Everi broke through with mechanical reel spinners. Just like video poker, that was long considered a no-win strategy. Bally and IGT had reels locked up since the 1970s. Guess who’s number one today. Everi. They absolutely dominate the profitable high-denomination titles. They’re also scoring in shared-revenue categories. Their Skyline Revolve ranked as the #1 cabinet in Premium Mechanical Reels in the September 2021 Eilers Report. And now their video games are coming on strong; the Empire Flex cabinet is in the Top Six on the New Portrait list.
Perhaps the secret to their success has been diversity. Everi began in 1998 as Global Cash Access (GCA), a joint venture of three payment-processing companies. After some buyouts and consolidations, GCA debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2005, raising $240 million in an initial public offering.
They eventually entered the slot market by buying Multimedia Games (MGAM) in December 2014. The company changed its name to Everi Holdings the following year. They also picked up Nevada-based Western Money, a long-time supplier of casino change, TITO, and cash machines.
For several years, MGAM was a leading supplier of Class II slots and bingo products to Native Americans, but never threatened anyone in the Class III world. That all changed with the introduction of a spinning-reel Skyline cabinet more than a decade ago. Since then, Everi’s rise has been spectacular.
Much of that may be due to the now-consistent leadership of Michael Rumbolz. Following a period of short-tenured CEOs, Rumbolz has stabilized leadership. He was recently named Chairman of the Board at Everi, but served as CEO since 2016, following a role as a consultant since 2008.
Talk about a stellar resumé. Previously, Rumbolz was the CEO at Cash Systems, Inc., which Everi acquired. But he’s certainly no newcomer to the casino industry. He served as the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board for four years beginning in 1985. That’s not to mention previous gigs as vice chairman of Casino Data Systems (CDS), president of Anchor Gaming, operational roles with Circus Circus Enterprises and Casino Windsor, and a stint as Chief Deputy Attorney General for the state of Nevada after getting his law degree from USC.
With their roots in the payments world, it’s no surprise that Everi is a major player in cashless gaming, a segment that may have reached the tipping point during the pandemic. As mentioned, what may be more surprising to some is that Everi is now becoming a major supplier in the online-content world. Insiders, however, just see that as a natural progression.
MGAM had actually done some early work with online products before the Everi acquisition, mainly in the social-gaming segment. Then, six years ago, Everi partnered with Kent Young’s Spin Games, one of the leading suppliers of online content.
However, as David Lucchese, Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Digital for Everi, said, “We faced a decision a few years back of whether to buy or build.” In other words, would they buy or acquire existing suppliers of content or build their own content and delivery system? Realizing that many of the existing providers were working with 10-year-old concepts, Everi decided to start from scratch. They felt confident that they could leverage the latest technology against their successful land-based game content. The result, three years ago, was the Spark remote content server.
Lucchese explained, “We learned from all those who pioneered before us. We used the latest technology and made sure to have great reporting and all the necessary bells and whistles. So our strategy then was simple: Take the best of our land-based content and move it over.”
Today, the Spark content server is live in 50 locations, with 50+ games in both social and real-money segments. And the market is rapidly expanding in that latter category.
Most experts predict that online sports betting will be the catalyst, or the gateway, for introducing online betting across the country. However, there’s little disagreement that the long-term success for gaming will come from online casino games, rather than sports betting, due to its much stronger profitability potential.
Some evidence supports that prediction. New Jersey has shown impressive numbers in leading the way. Pennsylvania is close behind, despite heavy taxation. West Virginia is now moving forward rapidly. Lucchese said, “Michigan turned some heads when it opened during the pandemic with strong results, but they also saw that the numbers stayed strong once the casinos reopened.” Connecticut should also be opening their online ventures very soon.
It could be five years before there’s nationwide adoption and widespread player acceptance, but the trends are positive now. Almost certainly, Everi will be a major player when that happens. Their titles on the Spark server, like Black Diamond and Cash Machine, are showing strong results against long-term content providers IGT and Hi5. The new “Eilers & Krejcik Online Game Performance Database” ranks them as sixth overall in Supplier Rankings, ahead of major players like Konami, Sg Digital, and NetEnt.
In addition to their strong library of existing game titles, Everi is also producing custom property-branded titles for various customers. With their absolute dominance in reel-spinning mechanicals and their emerging success in video, Everi should have no problem in rolling out more and more online hits on their own Spark remote game server.
